Shakespeare’s First Folio flies to Mumbai

The first collection of Bard’s plays, published in 1623, is on display at the CSMVS.

We are inspired by William Shakespeare even 400 years after he wrote his last words. His famous play Romeo and Juliet is still adapted and re-interpreted across the globe. From Macbeth to Midsummer Night’s Dream, his work has been quoted, enacted and made into films in various languages. And the very beginnings of these gems will be on display at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), Mumbai from January 20 to March 8.

The British Council, in collaboration with The British Library and CSMVS, has brought to Mumbai, and to India, for the first time, First Folio – the first collection of plays by William Shakespeare.

First published in London in 1623 as a bulky book of 900 pages, the collection is significant because 18 of the plays featured in it would not have survived, and most of the other prominent plays would be known to us only in the imperfect form, if not for the First Folio. The Folio came out seven years after Shakespeare’s death and contains 36 of his 37 recognised plays.

“We have been thinking of bringing Shakespeare to India for the last year or so. When it came through, we were really happy because it is the first time that something of so much significance regarding Shakespeare is travelling to India. Indeed, for the first time, it is travelling outside the UK. This particular folio is important because it’s the first time that all of Shakespeare’s plays were compiled in a single volume,” says CSMVS curator Vaidehi Savnal.

It is believed that about 750 copies of the First Folio were printed of which 234 still survive, according to The British Library, which holds five copies. One of those five is now on loan, via the British Council, to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj museum. The First Folio – one of the most valuable printed books in the world — sold at a Christie’s auction in New York for $6.16 million in 2001.

Speaking about the conservation process, Adrian Edwards, head of printed heritage collections at the British Library, said, “The binding was broken, the pages were full of holes and fragile. It had four conservation treatments which took years. Every page had to be repaired. The binding is a new one, a goat skin binding put on by the British Library curators in the 1980s. Pages were washed – the paper is made from linen rags, it can be washed if you know the right way and are using the right tools. The very small holes in the pages were filled with natural materials. And, it also has a protective lamination put on both sides of the sheet of paper. That is a synthetic covering, a nylon covering which doesn’t stop you from seeing the text.”

Prime Minister David Cameron had announced 2017 as the UK-India Year of Culture to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Indian Independence during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit in 2015.

“2016 was the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death and this exhibition is really the end of that commemoration. We think that there is no better way to conclude this celebration than with this partnership,” said Alan Gemmell, OBE Director, British Council, India. Apart from The Folio, workshops, plays and screenings related to the iconic writer have been planned until March 8.

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